German Tactics (first time German, need to pwn my friends)

I’m playing with my friends and this is the first time I’m Germany. Japan is a relatively new player so I need to help him tactically a lot. The USA player is also kind of new (2 games under his belt as Germany) and the UK player is not new but not the best. Still a threat. My biggest concern is Russia. It’s his game and he thinks like a general. So from that, what are some basic core tactics for Germany and also what is a strategy to really melt my friend’s faces off?

What I liked to do, is build 1 fighter a turn, and MEN. Maybe with the odd tank or artillery mixed in, depending on what kind of money/change I had available.

Usually the allies will go for a Kill Germany First strategy… what this does, is bulks out the best possible build strategy for germany in the game (Which is to build all Inf) while retaining the maximum flexibility of being able to fight on the ground, and destroy any enemy navies which are too small, and make the mistake of getting to close to your air power.

The fighters will also keep you alive on defense, and force the allies to build all kinds of USELESS ships like destroyers, which have no effect on your battleplan to victory.

Once you have about 10 or more fighters, just keep the ground units flowing.

You’re best off going for a rush into Russia. Trust me, once you get Russia you own the game. UK and US will take too long to invade Western Europe and in that time you can take Russia. Also, forget about Africa. Trying to keep it is a waste of resources and you can use your planes in your first turn for something more useful. You’re better off ferrying your troops into Germany and just letting the Allies have it, its not worth your time. What strategies were you thinking of using?

I have a lot of experience with Germany and I know that taking Anglo-Egypt and then Africa is a huge waste of time and resources. Chances are you won’t even succeed and I would rather have those troops in Germany.

It will but it is much easier to defend Germany than Northern Africa. Its just not worth the resources in the big picture. A strategy that has won me at least 5 games as Germany is to forget about Africa. Then, you rush Russia with everything you have. Because of the way the game works the US and UK can’t possibly invade you in time, so if you focus all of your resources on Russia they’ll be back in time for the invasion of Normandy. This way you’ll get the economy boost early in the game to match the Allies’ high economy. Although this only works if you devote all of your resources, and I mean all of them to destroying Russia. Its worth the risk (really there is no risk because of the game’s flaws), and you’ll be able to win. Its has worked every time I have tried it, but you need to ferry your African troops into the Balkans too.

Once you take Russia taking on the Allies with be a breeze with all of the added IPC income. Just tell Japan not to attack them either because then they have an escape route into Eastern Asia. This may sound like it doesn’t work but the trick to taking Russia is not tanks but infantry. You can pump out more infantry than tanks and you get more bang for your buck. If you make only infantry you’ll break the back of the Russian military and be able to take them on really early, too early for the allies to respond. And then you’re home free.

There are no early victories in A&A revised. Plan on winning the long game. Buy lots of infantry and find a way to equalize the IPC production. The best way to do this is take Africa, but Northern Russia and Caucasus are another way to do this.

There are no early victories in A&A revised. Plan on winning the long game. Buy lots of infantry and find a way to equalize the IPC production. The best way to do this is take Africa, but Northern Russia and Caucasus are another way to do this.

Against good allies, plan on being on the defensive. Russia will come at you, and it won’t take long for the Allies to sink your navies and start coming over the Atlantic.

I recommend that you do conquer Egypt on the first turn, but then leave it at that. You will likely lose Egypt shortly afterwards, so I recommend taking your African Army across the Suez and into Persia to be a little bit aggressive against India and Caucasus.

Fighters and Bombers are good, you’ll need them for sinking the British Navy (especially on turns 1 and 2). Infantry is pretty good, but I recommend some tanks and artillery as supplements.

From there, just try to keep Russia busy while Japan spreads through Asia. Ask your Japanese Ally to make a decisive goal of taking a straight line to Moscow through one or two of the three paths to Moscow (either north of mongolia, or through China, or through India).

There are no early victories in A&A revised. Plan on winning the long game. Buy lots of infantry and find a way to equalize the IPC production. The best way to do this is take Africa, but Northern Russia and Caucasus are another way to do this.

I do disagree.

Rare it may be, but there’s at least one way for Germany to try to finish Russia as quickly as possible on Revised - with a 8/9 bid place 1 inf/art on Belorussia and 1 armor in E. Europe and pray that the Russians have at least average losses while attacking West Russia and any other territories. On G1 buy 8 armor and hit the Russian stack on West Russia with everything that can hit it and send everything towards Russia (including the inf and armor on Libya to Ukraine). Afterwards pray for decent dice and that the UK/US doesn’t land too soon in Europe.

Sink the British DD, then land an infantry and artillery in Anglo-Egypt as well as bringing up the units in Libya. If Russia sends a fighter to Anglo-Egypt on his first turn, then I would suggest sending the bomber from Germany.
edit: or fighter from Balkans or Ukraine.

I’m in this game agasinst this guy.
I’m allies hes axis. Germany was holdin out against Sovs and U.K. America and Japan stalemate.
He builds a v. gd fleet in Japan-transporters x 4 Battleships x 2 Destoyer x 3 Aicraft Carrier x 1.
america have gd fleet 1 Transporter, 3 Destoyers, 2 Sumbarines.
Japan attack and destroy all american ships with ease and dump cargo. after a few battles involving around 5-10 tanks and fighters-each, Japan break in and slowly take over all American mainland.
Meanwhile, Germany have been forced out of Europe and after earlier invading Africa it is now being taken over so what is left of Germany has been forced onto boats in a fleet of 5 ships. russia doing all work. Japan onlky has their bits left apart from small islands near Australia.
At the point of the game Japan have put to much energy in attacking US. They are being pushed back into Japan but are raking in money from rewards so hard to stop. Could probably raid the capital of America but 6 tanks are waiting in Central America.
In conclusion, it is indeed rare to get into America as the guy i am playing is a veteran and has never seen it done. If you do, expect awards, but you will be unstable from then on.

@OLver:
Thanks for the input guys. My oponent should really have landed in Africa with UK on the first turn.
I also thought that sending a Russian fighter in Anglo Egypt was a big mistake made by my oponent, so was it to not leave Leningrad completly empty.
My bad I said 1 inf and one art from Africa but of course it was 1 tank and 1 inf. I also forgot to say that my two subs in the baltic were moved in seazone 7. I knew my navy was going to be destroyed, but it forced my oponent to split his airforce, and I saved a sub and killed one fighter with my transport/dest fleet.
There are two approaches to a non-Baltic fleet buy that I’ve seen and use.
1. Stay put. If the UK attacks with its air, the Germans kill UK air. The Germans lose a lot of navy which they weren’t using a lot (they would have used the Baltic transport), and the UK loses its valuable and hard-to-replace air.
2. Split into four groups. If the UK splits its air up, German subs can surrender and German destroyer and/or transport have a better chance of bringing down some UK air. If the UK doesn’t split its air up, then at least three German units survive. Note that the US bomber will probably knock out another German naval unit.
I guess my oponent did not play really well with Russia because even thought I had few land units on the Russian front, my fighters always allowed me to trade territories and to keep UK and US navy at bay for a while.
Yes, trading territories is - after a fashion - a strength of the German fighter buy, but REALLY, you should have been bled dry, especially with having to transport units to Africa.
Now I have to explain what were, in my opinion the advantages of such a move. UK and USA had to buy much more navy to protect their transports, so even thought my russian front was some kind of weak, Germany was almost never threatened, and the Allies coult not build any fleet in the Pacific. On UK1, my oponent send his Indian SZ Fighter to destroy my tank in Anglo-Egypt along with the Transjordan inf. He succeded, but my lonely Japan transport stayed alive, so I only had to buy one on J1 and could already build a factory in Mandchuria. On J1 I took China and Buryatia. Two turn later a factory was build in French Indochina, and another one in India a turn later.
German fighters have nothing to do with a fleet in the Pacific. Nothing you have yet described prevents the Allies from building a fleet in Atlantic OR Pacific. (Of course, if they build in the Atlantic, they’ll have to overcome that German air force, but I digress)
The UK can still send their carrier and destroyer against the Japanese transport at Kwangtung - and they should, too, in view of the fact they used the Indian fighter against Anglo-Egypt. More weak play.
I think you spent way too many IPCs on industrial complexes. If you purchase 16 IPC of transports, you can move up to four units from Japan to the mainland, and vary between anywhere from Soviet Far East to French Indochina; furthermore, those transports can be used as naval fodder and to pick up Japanese infantry from isolated islands where they are doing no good. Compare with a 15 IPC industrial complex that produces three units, cannot switch where units are placed, cannot be used as naval fodder, and do not solve the problem of wasted Japanese infantry resources sitting on isolated islands. I know Caspian Sub states 2 transports 1 industrial complex is good, but I think I would prefer 3 transports 1 tank on J1 regardless of bid - if I can claim India and put an IC there with Japan, the positional advantage is huge.
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In practice, those German fighters have limited range, exactly as I previously mentioned; you will probably end up having to split the German fighters between eastern territories and Western Europe. This isn’t too bad in practice. What you will probably see is the Allies building up a fleet off Eastern Canada; when the Allies feel like it, they will unite newly built naval units from Eastern US with the existing fleet off Eastern Canada and land at Algeria, where with no surviving Baltic fleet elements and your German Mediterranean fleet probably not in a position to counter, and insufficient German fighters at Western Europe (considering that you have to split between Western Europe and eastern territories), you can do nothing THAT TURN.
On the next turn, though, you can land 10 fighter 1 bomber (possibly 9 fighter 1 bomber) at Western Europe. If the Allied navy stay off Algeria, you beat them up, if the Allied navy retreats from Algeria, you may have a problem. Why a problem? Because even a pretty tame Allied fleet will land 6 US and 4 UK ground units (2 starting UK transports and 2 starting US transports plus 1 US transport bought on US1); you may easily have to deal with a lot more. And although you have air at Western Europe that can hit Algeria, you need cheap German ground units to act as fodder; you can get 2 German infantry in with the Mediterranean transport, but otherwise - well, you can see that you might have a problem to deal with.
So let us say that is what happens. On the German turn, you fly all your fighters to Western Europe, and the Allies respond by pulling their navy back to Eastern Canada and buying another US carrier at Eastern US (I assume they bought one already on US1 after seeing the German fighter build). Germany does nothing about the Allied forces in Algeria.
Germany’s next turn, you can only trade off Karelia and one other territory easily (that other territory being the one your German bomber can hit). BUT now what? If you fly away from Western Europe, the Allies will land MORE units at Algeria. And if you do NOT fly away from Western Europe, the Allies STILL land at Algeria, with probable 6 transports (up to 7 or 8 easily), 2 destroyers, 2 carriers, 4 fighters, 1 battleship. EVEN with that mighty air force, there is nothing you can do. So let us say you GIVE UP Algeria and start harassing Russia with your mighty air force. The Allies have sunk 32 IPC in carriers, and are just making their landing at Africa; they are out of position to help Russia.
So as you can see, what have you gained at best? Nothing but TIME. Time for Japan to push on Russia. Time for the Germans to keep the IPCs they gained in Africa. And that is EXACTLY why I recommend using African bid units instead of Ukraine. You need to control Africa early while you still can; you WILL lose Africa eventually.
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And remember these things too:
1. The Allies can still go KJF (if they do, Germany has to try to control and keep control of Africa.)
2. By buying so many fighters early, you lock yourself into a certain line of German play. You may do better to stagger your fighter buys out (say 1 German fighter a turn or even 2 German fighters on G1) so you can have some early infantry to trade with Russia sooner.
In short - yes, if the Allies go KGF, German fighters are useful - however, I do not think that 4 fighters RIGHT AWAY is necessary or proper; I think 2 fighters is the most that the Germans can afford on G1.

I am going to lock this thread now. I have eddited and deleted and now given up.
The question was asked, the question was answered to the satisfaction of the individual making the inquiry.
Jen if you want to argue this start a new thread. (btw you’re wrong)
Everyone else if you are satisfied then don’t respond to her thread.
Please be nice, I have games to play…